Feds holding another telecom spectrum auction Tuesday

Continuing its bid to expand competition in the mobile marketplace, the Harper government is holding another auction Tuesday for telecom companies looking to bid on a piece of Canada’s airwaves.

The federal government — which owns and manages access to the radio spectrum — is releasing an “unprecedented amount of mobile spectrum” in 2015, according to a media release issued by Industry Minister James Moore’s office in December.

It’s an opportunity for the government to make a lot of money quickly; last year’s auction earned the government $5.27 billion. A spokesperson for Moore’s office wouldn’t “speculate” on how much revenue the government expects to earn from this week’s auction. But the stakes are higher.

The government says 50 megahertz of spectrum in the 1.7/2.1 GHz band, also known as the AWS-3 megahertz [MHz] band, will enable the delivery of fast, reliable service on smart phones, tablets and mobile devices and will encourage competition among telecom services.

“It’s really valuable — it can travel a great distance and it can penetrate buildings a lot more frequently,” said Jake Enwright, Moore’s press secretary.

The government has waged an aggressive campaign of promoting competition in the mobile market to encourage smaller carriers in the hopes expanding choice beyond the “Big Three” carriers — Bell, Rogers and Telus — and encouraging lower prices for consumers. By May of next year, the amount of spectrum available for mobile services will increase by almost 60 per cent compared to early 2014.

The government announced in December that it would be seeking consultation on making the 600 MHz and 3500 MHz bands available for mobile use, while maintaining fixed wireless Internet service in rural areas.

An additional 2100 MHz band would be made available to support infrastructure wireless companies need to deliver services — and new licenses in 24, 28 and 38 GHz bands would be established.

Moore will announce the results on Friday, said Enwright.

“It starts tomorrow and it’s what we call a sealed bid auction. It’s like a silent auction—this is a simple process,” explained Enwright.